Biography

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Julia Gillard served as the first female Prime Minister of Australia between 2010 and 2013.
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Gillard was born in 1961 and went to University of Adelaide. In 1983 Gillard moved to Melbourne, where she served as president of the Australian Union of Students and continued her studies at the University of Melbourne. She earned degrees in law and arts from the University of Melbourne in 1986, and joined a private law practice the following year. She was made a partner, specializing in industrial law, in 1990.

From 1998 until 2001, Gillard served on a number of committees including, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Workplace Relations. Then in 2001, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration, and in 2003, she took on the responsibilities of the Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs Committee. ​From 2003 to 2006, Ms. Gillard served as Shadow Minister for Health followed in 2006 by an appointment as Shadow Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations and Social Inclusion.

She currently serves as the Chair of Beyond Blue, one of Australia’s leading mental health awareness bodies; is the inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, which through research, practice, and advocacy, is addressing women’s under-representation in leadership. In 2021 she was appointed as the Chair of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation that supports science to solve urgent health challenges.

Her second book ‘Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons’ is co-authored by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and was released in 2020. As political leaders in their own countries, the book analyzes lived experiences of female leaders across the world. Her third book, 'Not Now, Not Ever – 10 years on from the misogyny speech', was released in October 2022.In April 2021, she became chair of the Wellcome Trust, succeeding Eliza Manningham-Buller.

 She was recently appointed to lead the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care in South Australia. ​